Time Magazine notes that the film “traces how the bloody crackdown on youth dissent in March 2011 metastasized into the intractable conflict that today has left an estimated 500,000 dead and millions uprooted.”

“Syria became a civil war in response to the violence of the government; eventually Iran got involved through Hezbollah to support the Assad regime. The Kurds got involved. Turkey got involved. The Arab Gulf states got involved. Eventually all the world powers and all the regional powers had some investment in the war in Syria and in many cases were actively involved in the fighting.”

Sebastian Junger is an Academy-Award nominated filmmaker and New York Times No. 1 best-selling author of books including War and Tribe. As an award-winning journalist, a contributing editor to Vanity Fair, and a special correspondent at ABC News, he has covered major international news stories around the world and has received both a National Magazine Award and a Peabody Award. Nick Quested is executive director and owner of Goldcrest Films, one of the world’s premiere documentary brands. He has earned two Emmys for his work.

This is the second film premiere for which Dr. Sheehan has been commissioned by National Geographic Channel. To contact him with media inquries or book him for special events, please visit